LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


By 
Woodtmry 


The  Spanish  Settlements  within  the  Pres- 
ent   Limits   of   the    United 
States,  1513-1561 

The  Spanish  Settlements  within  the  Pres- 
ent Limits  of  the  United  States. 
Florida.     1562-1574 


Each,  octavo,  with  maps,  net,  $2.50 
(By  mail,  $2.75) 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York  London 


PEDRO  MBNENDBZ  DK  AVILES 

mf/ ' </<•  .  //'//:>  i-//  <  WMSU&,  fomttdaM 
</('  &/  0r(/<-/f  </e/rJi////s<7i>, 


THE  SPANISH  SETTLEMENTS 

WITHIN  THE  PRESENT  LIMITS 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

FLORIDA 

1562-1574 


BY 

WOODBURY  LOWERY 


WITH  MAPS 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW   YORK   AND   LONDON 

Imtcfterbocfeer  press 

1905 


COPYRIGHT,  1905 

BY 
WOODBURY  LOWERY 


Ube  imicfterbocfcer  press,  flew  Jgcrft 


TO  MY  DEAR  SISTER 


PREFACE 

THE  principal  sources  for  the  history  of  Pedro  Mene'n- 
dez  de  Avil£s  and  his  conquest  of  Florida  are:  i.  A 
collection  of  letters  written  by  and  to  him,  memorials, 
royal  cedulas  and  patents,  instructions,  relations,  and 
other  documents  covering  the  period  from  1555  to  1574, 
but  chiefly  relating  to  the  conquest  of  Florida.  This 
collection  is  published  in  E.  Ruidiaz  y  Caravia,  La  Florida 
sit  Conquista  y  Colonization  por  Pedro  Mentndez  de  A  vile fs, 
Madrid,  1893,  volume  ii.  2.  Memorial  que  hizo  el 
Doctor  Gonzalo  Solis  de  Meras  de  todas  las  jornadas 
y  sucesos  del  Adelantado  Pedro  Men£ndez  de  Avil£s,  su 
cuflado,  y  de  la  Conquista  de  la  Florida  y  Justicia  que  hizo 
en  Juan  Ribao  y  otros  franceses.  This  forms  volume  i.  of 
the  La  Florida  of  Ruidiaz.  3.  Vida  y  hechos  de  Pero 
Menendez  de  Auiles,  Cauallero  de  la  Hordem  de  Sanctiago, 
Adelantado  de  la  Florida:  Do  largamente  se  tratan  las 
Conquistas  y  Poblaciones  de  la  Prouincia  de  la  Florida,  y 
como  fueron  libradas  de  los  Luteranos  que  dellas  se  auian 
apoderado.  Compuesta  por  el  maestro  barrientos,  Catre- 
datico  de  salamanca.  This  work  is  contained  in  Dos 
Antiguas  Relaciones  de  la  Florida  publicalas  por  primer  a 
vez  Genaro  Garcia,  Mexico,  1902,  pp.  1-152.  4.  The 
account  contained  in  the  Ensayo  Cronologico  para  la  His- 
toria  General  de  la  Florida,  por  Don  Gabriel  de  Cardenas 
z  Cano  (anagram  for  Don  Andreas  Gonzales  Barcia), 
Madrid,  1723,  pp.  36-151. 

The  second  volume  of  Ruidiaz's  La  Floridd,  containing 
the  Aviles  correspondence,  is  published  as  an  appendix  to 


vi  Preface 

the  Memorial  of  Meras  in  the  first  volume.  In  place  of 
following  a  chronological  arrangement  the  editor  has 
grouped  his  material  under  the  headings  of  "Letters  of 
P.  Menendez  de  Avil£s."  "Letters  addressed  to  Pedro 
Menendez  de  Aviles,"  "Memorials  of  Pedro  Menendez 
de  Aviles,"  "Royal  Cedulas,"  "Royal  Patents/'  "In- 
structions,"  "Relations,"  "Illness  Testaments  and  Act 
of  Translation  of  the  Body  of  Pedro  Menendez,"  "Vari- 
ous Documents, ' '  etc.  This  artificial  grouping  has  caused 
him  to  overlook  certain  obviously  erroneous  dates  given 
in  the  titles  of  some  of  the  documents  and  to  leave  un- 
solved the  conflicting  statements  of  Barcia,  Meras,  and 
Vigil  as  to  the  dates  of  the  second  and  third  voyages  of 
Aviles  to  the  Indies,  to  which  a  more  logical  arrangement 
would  have  directed  his  attention. 

In  justice  to  Sr.  Ruidiaz  it  should  be  stated  that  the 
work  is  said  to  have  been  prepared  hurriedly  in  anticipa- 
tion of  his  admission  into  the  Royal  Academy  of  History, 
and  although  his  introductory  matter  exhibits  some  traces 
of  this  haste,  the  collection  is  of  primary  importance  to 
the  historian  and  bears  witness  to  an  extended  and  pains- 
taking investigation  among  the  Spanish  archives.  With 
the  exception  of  six  documents,1  which  are  reprinted 
from  other  collections,  and  seven  letters  of  Aviles,  which 

1  These  are : 

Real  Ce'dula,  March  22,  1565,  Ruidiaz,  La  Florida,  tomo  ii.,  p.  351  ; 
Buckingham  Smith,  Coleccidn  de  varios  Documentos  para  la  Historia  de  la 
Florida,  tomo  i.,  p.  13.  Mendoza's  "  Relacion"  in  Ruidiaz,  ibid.,  tomo  ii., 
p.  431  ;  Col.  Doc.  Inedit.  Indias,  tomo  iii.,  p.  441.  Letter  of  Toral,  April 
5,  1567,  Ruidiaz,  ibid.,  tomo  ii.,  p.  295  ;  Cartas  de  Indias^^.  238.  Van- 
dera's  "  Relacion,"  January  23,  1569  ;  Ruidiaz,  ibid.,  tomo  ii.,  p.  481 ;  Col. 
Doc.  Flo.,  tomo  i.,  p.  15  ;  Col.  Doc.  Inedit.  Indias,  tomo  iv.,  p.  560;  B. 
F.  French,  Hist.  Col.  Louisiana  and  Florida,  2d  series,  "  Historical 
Memoirs  and  Narratives,"  p.  289.  "  Disposicion  de  quatro  fuertes  que  ha 
de  haber  en  la  Florida,"  Ruidiaz,  La  Florida,  tomo  ii.,  p.  566,  where  it  is 
wrongly  dated  1566;  Col.  Doc.  Inedit.  Indias,  tomo  xiii.,  p.  307,  dated 
1569.  "  Diligencias  hechas  en  Sevilla  con  motivo  de  la  venida  de  Esteban 
de  las  Alas  de  la  Florida,"  Ruidiaz,  ibid.,  tomo  ii.,  p.  568  ;  Col.  Doc.  In- 
edit. Indias,  tomo  xiii.,  p.  309. 


Preface  vii 

are  extant  in  an  English  translation,  the  volume  consists 
entirely  of  material  then  for  the  first  time  published. 

Barrientos  finished  his  account  in  December,  I568.1 
He  was  professor  of  Latin  in  the  University  of  Salamanca, 
and  the  little  that  is  known  of  him  is  given  by  Garcia  in 
the  preface  to  the  above-mentioned  work.  Barrientos 
derived  the  material  for  his  history  from  at  least  three  in- 
dependent sources.  On  p.  147  he  relates  that  Avil£s  on 
his  return  from  Florida  to  Spain  in  1567,  "  presented  this 
relation  to  the  King,"  a  statement  which  admits  of  the 
inference  that  Barrientos  reproduced  either  in  whole  or  in 
part  the  original  relation  written  by  Avile"s  himself.  In 
addition  to  this  he  has  apparently  consulted  parts  of  the 
Avil£s  correspondence8  and  finally  he  mentions  several 
incidents  which  are  omitted  by  Meras  and  Barcia. 

The  Memorial  of  Meras  terminates  with  the  return  of 
Aviles  to  Spain  in  1567  and  his  arrival  at  Court.  Ruidiaz 
in  his  introductory  remarks  ascribes  no  date  to  the  work. 
The  year  "1565"  appears  on  the  title-page  which  pre- 
cedes the  Memorial.  Barcia  says 3  the  history  was  written 
at  the  time.  Meras,  who  was  the  brother-in-law  of  Aviles, 
accompanied  him  to  Florida,  and  both  Barcia  and  Ruidiaz 
are  under  the  impression  that  he  went  in  the  capacity  of 
historian  to  the  expedition.  It  is  to  be  noted,  however, 
that  Meras  relates  various  occurrences  at  which  he  was 
not  present,  and  which  he  must  have  learned  either  from 
an  eye-witness  or  from  a  document.  The  manuscript 
published  by  Ruidiaz  is  torn  and  illegible  in  several 
places.  As  the  Memorial  is  silent  upon  a  variety  of  sub- 
jects in  the  career  of  Aviles  which  are  related  by  Barcia, 
the  editor  has  supplied  the  omission  by  interpolating  into 
the  body  of  the  text  extensive  extracts  from  the  Ensayo 

1  Dos  Antiguas  Relaciones  de  la  Florida,  p.  149. 

2  Ibid.)  p.  106,  lines  2-5  from  the  bottom  of  the  page,  which  are  found 
in  the  letter  of  Aviles  of  October  15,  1565,  in  Ruidfaz,  La  Florida,  tomo 
ii.,  p.  94. 

3  Ensayo  Cronologico,  p.  90. 


viii  Preface 

for  the  purpose  of  presenting  a  more  detailed  and  con- 
secutive narrative,  indicating  the  interpolations  by  refer- 
ence to  foot-notes.1  There  is  nothing  to  indicate  that 
Herds  had  access  to  that  part  of  the  Aviles  correspond- 
ence which  has  been  printed  by  Ruidfaz  and  which,  as 
previously  noted,  appears  to  have  been  in  part  consulted 
by  Barrientos. 

On  comparing  the  Meras  and  Barrientos  relations  they 
are  found  to  contain  numerous  parallel  passages  in  which 
not  only  are  the  events  related  in  the  same  sequence,  but 
the  same  phrasing  and  even  words  are  employed  in  an 
identical  arrangement.  Many  sentences  are  absolutely 
the  same  in  both,  while  others  differ  only  in  the  tense  of 
the  verb,  or  else  employ  the  same  words  in  a  slightly 
different  order.*  The  supposition  that  one  writer  copied 
from  the  other  is  precluded  by  the  occasional  occurrence 
in  one  of  the  accounts,  either  in  the  body  of  a  sen- 
tence common  to  both  writers,  or  at  the  end  of  the 
same,  of  a  qualifying  word  or  clause  relating  to  a  detail 
which  does  not  occur  in  the  other,  as  well  as  by  an  occa- 
sional difference  in  a  number,  which  Barrientos,  as  a  rule, 
spells,  while  Meras  employs  the  Arabic  numerals.  It 
follows  that  these  passages  in  Barrientos  and  Meras  were 
obtained  from  the  same  original,  for  they  present  all 
the  appearance  of  an  abridgment  following  very  closely 
the  language  of  the  original  document.  It  also  seems 
probable,  from  the  variance  in  the  numerals  referred  to 
and  an  ocasional  variance  in  the  readings,  where  the 
words  employed  still  remain  identical,3  that  the  two 

1  See  tomo  i.,  p.  10,  note  ;  p.  39,  note  and  elsewhere. 
8  Compare  Meras,  pp.     74-77,    and  Barrientos,  pp.  44-45. 
"        "     111-126,    "  "  "    63-69. 

"     151-156,    "  "  "    87-90. 

8  See  the  varying  account  of  the  answer  of  the  sailor.  Barrientos,  in 
Garcia,  Dos  Antiguas  Relaciones  de  la  Florida^  p.  63,  and  Meras  in  Ruidfaz, 
La  Florida^  tomo  i.,  p.  in  ;  of  the  tying  of  Ribaut's  hands,  Barrientos, 
ibid.,  p.  69',  and  Meras,  ibid.,  p.  125. 


Preface  ix 

abridgments  were  made  from  different  copies  of  the 
original,  or  that  one  of  the  accounts  has  been  less  care- 
fully edited  than  the  other. 

The  question  arises  at  once — What  was  this  original 
document  from  which  both  of  these  writers  have  derived 
so  large  a  part  of  the  incidents  which  they  relate  ?  The 
statement  of  Barrientos,  above  quoted,  that  Aviles  on  his 
return  from  Florida  to  Spain  in  1567  "presented  this  re- 
lation to  the  King,"  points  with  much  probability  to 
the  conclusion  that  it  was  the  original  relation  of  Aviles 
himself.  The  possibility  of  this  being  the  case  is  borne 
out  by  the  fact  that  the  Memorial  of  Meras,  who  had 
returned  to  Spain  in  July,  1566,  terminates  with  the  ar- 
rival of  Aviles  at  Court  in  1567,  and  also  by  the  statement 
of  Barrientos  that  he  finished  his  account  in  December, 
1568,  which  was  subsequent  to  the  same  event. 

Barcia's  account  is  largely  taken  from  the  Memorial  of 
Solis  de  Merds,  a  manuscript  copy  of  which  was  in  his 
possession.1  On  pp.  85-90  Barcia  gives  a  lengthy  ex- 
tract from  it  and  distinguishes  the  quotation  from  his 
own  text  by  reference  to  the  original  and  by  printing  it 
in  italics.  The  quotation  corresponds  to  the  Meras  ac- 
count given  by  Ruidiaz  on  pp.  110-131  in  volume  i.  of 
his  La  Florida,  which  includes  parallel  passages  in  Bar- 
rientos. These  two  versions  are  not  absolutely  identical. 
There  are  occasional  differences  in  certain  words  used  in 
both  accounts,  in  the  tenses  of  the  verbs,  and  there  are  a 
few  unimportant  transpositions  and  omissions.  From  all 
this  it  appears  probable  that  Barcia  and  Ruidiaz  had 
access  to  two  different  copies  of  the  Meras  Memorial. 
Several  other  short  extracts  from  the  Memorial  are  also 
given  in  italics,  and  the  major  part  of  Barcia's  text  is 
merely  a  condensation  of  the  Meras  narrative.  Barcia 
also  states  that  he  had  access  to  the  papers  of  Avile"s. a 

1  Ensayo  Cronologico,  Introduction,  *j[  6b  and  p.  90. 
2 Ibid.,  Introduction,  ^[  6b. 


x  Preface 

In  addition  to  the  matter  taken  from  the  Merds  Memor- 
ial he  gives  a  number  of  details  which  do  not  appear  in 
Barrientos,  or  in  the  documents  published  by  Ruidiaz.1 
Barcia  was  aware  of  the  existence  of  the  Barrientos 
manuscript,  but  was  unable  to  obtain  access  to  it.a  The 
curious  result  arrived  at  is  that  all  three  of  the  published 
accounts  appear  to  have  been  largely  derived  from  a  com- 
mon source, — the  as  yet  undiscovered  relation  of  Aviles 
himself. 

This  conclusion,  if  correct,  has  an  important  and  ob- 
vious bearing  on  the  value  of  the  three  narratives,  since  it 
reduces  to  a  single  source  the  evidence  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  events  which  they  record  in  place  of  accepting 
them  as  three  concurrent  and  independent  sources  of 
testimony.  It  follows  that  the  reliability  of  the  three 
narratives  ultimately  reposes  upon  the  unsupported  state- 
ments of  Aviles  except  in  so  far  as  the  latter  are  verified 
by  the  correspondence  of  the  French  and  Spanish  am- 
bassadors and  by  contemporary  French  accounts.  As- 
suming the  above  conclusion  to  be  correct,  the  effort  has 
been  made  to  present  the  character  of  Avil6s  in  such  a 
light,  not  palliating  his  faults,  nor  yet  belittling  his  vir- 
tues, that  the  reader  may  form  for  himself  an  independ- 
ent estimate  of  his  sincerity  unbiassed  by  the  confidence 
which  the  writer  is  disposed  to  place  in  his  unsupported 
statements. 

This  confidence  is  founded  upon  the  concurrence  of  the 
Aviles  correspondence,  extending  over  a  period  of  several 
years,  with  the  substance  of  the  Aviles  relation  given  by 
the  writers  above  referred  to ;  the  absence  of  any  reason- 
able motive  for  a  misrepresentation  of  the  facts  on  his 
part;  the  fact  that  Fourquevaux  nowhere  impugns  his 

'See  ibid.,  Ano  XLVII.,  p.  125,  where  names  of  vessels  and  of  persons 
are  given  which  do  not  appear  elsewhere,  and  the  date  of  the  departure  of 
Aviles  for  Carlos,  March  1st,  not  mentioned  by  either  Meras  or  Barrientos. 

2  Ensayo  Cronologico,  Introduction,  ^[  ic. 


Preface  xi 

veracity ;  that  Aviles  does  not  appear  to  have  been  of  an 
intriguing  disposition;  that  he  was  too  continuously, 
variously,  and  actively  employed  to  have  sustained  suc- 
cessfully a  prolonged  deception;  and  that  his  letters 
betray,  as  a  rule,  the  curt  and  frank  bearing  of  a  soldier 
rather  than  the  place-seeking  suavity  of  a  courtier. 

In  recent  years  but  two  works  of  importance  have  ap- 
peared which  treat  at  any  length  of  the  Florida  episode. 
The  first  is  Mr.  Parkman's  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New 
World,  of  which  the  first  edition  was  published  in  Boston 
in  1865.  The  incident  of  the  French  colony  in  Florida 
occupies  about  one-third  of  the  book.  Mr.  Parkman 
informs  us  that  he  had  access  to  some  of  the  Avile"s  cor- 
respondence entitled  Siete  Cartas  escritas  al  Rey,  Anos  de 
1565 y  1566,  MS.,  a  copy  of  which  was  procured  for  him 
by  Mr.  Buckingham  Smith,1  that  distinguished  and  inde- 
fatigable investigator  for  material  relating  to  the  history 
of  Spain  within  our  country.  Unfortunately  Mr.  Park- 
man made  but  a  very  slight  use  of  them,  citing  only  three 
letters.8  In  1875,  M.  Paul  Gaffarel  published  his  Histoire 
de  la  Floride  Fran$aisey  in  which  his  only  knowledge  of 
the  Spanish  side  of  the  story  was  apparently  confined  to 
that  given  by  Parkman  and  to  an  exceedingly  cursory 
reading  of  Barcia.  He  gave  us,  however,  our  first  know- 
ledge of  the  diplomatic  correspondence  which  arose  be- 
tween France  and  Spain  on  the  subject  of  their  respective 
claims  to  Florida,  confining  himself  entirely  to  that  of 
M.  de  Fourquevaux,  the  French  ambassador  at  Madrid, 
of  whose  unpublished  letters  he  printed  some  interesting 

1  Pioneers   of  France   in   the  New  World,   Boston,    1893,   pp.  6,   104, 
note  i. 

2  Parkman   cites  only  the  letters  of  September   n,    October   15,    and 
December  12,  1565,  which  is  dated  December  25th  in  Ruidiaz.     The  re- 
maining letters  are  those   of    August    13,    December   5,    December   16, 
1565,  and  January  30,   1566.      Mr.    Henry  Ware  has  given  an   English 
translation  of  all  of  them  in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  Proceed- 
ings, 2d  series,  vol.  viii.,  pp.  416-468. 


xii  Preface 

extracts.  In  1893  Mr.  Parkman  published  his  revised 
twenty-fifth  edition  of  The  Pioneers  in  which  he  made 
some  reference  to  the  extracts  of  the  Fourquevaux  corre- 
spondence printed  by  Gaffarel,  but  with  no  addition  to 
the  Spanish  side  of  the  story.  Of  shorter  recent  essays 
on  the  subject  there  are  but  two  deserving  of  special 
mention.  These  are  "Un  glorieux  episode  maritime  et 
colonial  des  Guerres  de  Religion  "  by  Maurice  Delpeuch, 
published  in  the  Revue  Maritime,  tome  civ.,  pp.  1882, 
2150,  October  and  November,  1902,  and  the  concise 
chapter  on  the  " French  and  Spaniards  in  Florida" 
in  "Spain  in  America,"  by  Professor  E.  G.  Bourne, 
volume  iii.  of  The  American  Nation:  A  History,  pub- 
lished in  1904. 

Since  the  appearance  of  the  histories  of  Parkman  and 
Gaffarel,  not  only  have  the  two  Spanish  works  previously 
referred  to  been  published,  but  the  first  volume  of  the 
letters  of  M.  de  Fourquevaux  has  also  appeared,  extend- 
ing over  the  period  embraced  in  this  present  volume.  In 
addition  to  this  new  material,  the  importance  of  which 
cannot  be  underestimated,  a  careful  search  in  the  archives 
of  Seville,  Madrid,  Paris,  and  London,  and  in  collections 
in  New  York  and  Washington,  has  revealed  the  existence 
of  unpublished  documents  of  much  value  bearing  upon 
this  period,  such  as  letters  and  reports  exhibiting  the 
Spanish  attitude  towards  French  colonisation  in  Florida; 
the  Spanish  accounts  of  the  depredations  committed  by 
the  Laudonniere  colony,  and  the  correspondence  of  the 
Spanish  ambassador  at  Paris  with  Philip  II.  during  all  of 
this  period,  which  fills  out  the  Fourquevaux  correspond- 
ence and  throws  an  interesting  light  on  the  relations  of 
Catherine  de'  Medici  and  Philip  in  their  contest  for  su- 
premacy in  the  peninsula  of  Florida.  A  liberal  use  has 
been  made  of  all  this  material  in  the  preparation  of  the 
present  volume,  rather  with  the  view  of  bringing  out 
the  true  attitude  of  the  Spaniards  than  that  of  retelling 


Preface  xiii 

the  story  of  the  French  colony,  which  has  already  been 
done  with  so  much  ability. 

In  conclusion  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  make  some  refer- 
ence to  the  ponderous  quarto  manuscript  history  of 
Florida  by  Pulgar,  MSS.  2999  in  the  Biblioteca  Nacional, 
Madrid,  the  title  of  which  is  as  follows : 

Historia general de  la  Florida /diuidese  en  tres  partes/  La 
primera  Parte  /  contiene  sus  descubrimiento,  description 
(sic),  y  los  /  successes  temporales  y  Espirituales,  assi  /  de 
los  Espanoles,  como  franzeses,  ingleses/y  Las  Missiones 
de  Religiosos  /  dominicos,  de  la  compania  y  /  franciscos  / 
La  segunda  Parte  /  Contiene  el  descubrimiento  de  los 
franzeses  desde  /  el  afio  de  1669  (sic),  y  sus  suzesos,  y 
la  Relazion  de  los  /  viajes,  q  los  Espanoles  han  hecho  al 
Seno  Mexi  /  cano  desde  el  afio  de  1683  (sic)  asta  el  de 
1673  y/la  description  de  la  Bahia  de  s*a  Maria  /  de  galve, 
y  otro  de  la  empalizada  /  La  tercera  parte  /  pone  la  Rela- 
zion de  el  Alvar  nufiez  cabaza  de  Vaca  /  enteramente.  y 
La  historia  de  Hernado  (sic)  de  Soto  /  continuada,  com- 
pilada  de  las  decadas  /  de  Antonio  de  Herrera  /  Escribiala/ 
El  Dor  D.P?  Fernz  de  Pulgar  Canonigo  de  La/ssta  iglesia 
de  Palenzia,  y  Coronista /mayor  de  indias /dedicasse./ 

This  manuscript  history  appears  to  be  a  development 
of  certain  chapters  on  Florida  referred  to  in  the  Preface 
to  Book  IV.  and  also  in  the  Index  to  volume  iii.  of 
Pulgar's  Historia  General  de  las  Indias  Occidentals,  De- 
cada  Nona,  continua  la  de  Antonio  de  Herrera  desde  el 
afio  1555  asta  el  de  1565  (Bib.  Nac.,  Madrid,  MSS.  2796- 
2799),  but  which  do  not  appear  therein.  It  consists  of 
776  closely  written  pages  in  a  small  and  cramped  cali- 
graphy  rather  difficult  to  decipher,  and  is  divided  into 
two  parts  of  two  and  three  books  respectively.  The  first 
book  has  six  chapters,  as  follows:  I.  The  discovery  of 
Florida.  2.  Its  coast.  2  (sic).  Its  people  and  customs. 
5  (sic).  Spanish  discovery,  De  Leon,  Ayllon,  etc.  6  (sic). 
French  discoveries,  Ribaut,  Laudonniere,  etc.  7  (sic). 


xiv  Preface 

What  remains  to  be  discovered.  The  second  book  is  en- 
titled "Spanish  Expeditions  to  Florida  "  and  contains  ten 
chapters  on  De  Leon,  Ayllon,  Narvaez,  De  Soto,  Fr. 
Luis  Cancer,  the  fleet  lost  on  the  Florida  coast  in  1553, 
and  Arellano.  The  third  book  entitled  "  French  Expedi- 
tions and  Mene"ndez  de  Avile"s,"  consists  of  ten  chapters 
on  Ribaut,  Avile"s,  the  Jesuit  missions,  and  Gourgues. 
The  fourth  book  consists  of  six  chapters  on  English  ex- 
peditions to  Florida,  and  the  second  Franciscan  mission. 
All  of  these  chapters  are  divided  into  numbered  sections. 
The  second  part  is  in  four  books.  The  first  book  is  a 
description  of  Louisiana  in  three  chapters.  The  second 
book  treats  of  Spanish  discoveries  since  1685  in  two 
chapters.  The  second  (sic)  book  contains  the  relation  of 
Cabe^a  de  Vaca  and  the  second  (sic)  book  relates  the  De 
Soto  expedition  in  twenty-nine  chapters. 

The  work  is  unfinished  and  the  chapters  are  frequently 
incomplete,  many  of  them  being  represented  by  a  short 
paragraph  of  one  or  two  pages  only;  others  are  very 
long,  and  still  others  have  merely  the  title  of  the  chap- 
ter written  in,  the  page  below  being  left  blank.  The  ma- 
terial is  unorganised,  the  same  subject  being  sometimes 
repeated  two  or  three  times  under  different  headings. 
The  text  consists  very  largely  of  extracts  from  and  ab- 
stracts of  published  histories  and  accounts  of  the  events 
related,  the  abstracts  from  two  or  more  writers  on  the 
same  subject  being  arranged  in  successive  sections  under 
the  chapter  heading. 

The  authors  whose  works  have  furnished  the  material 
for  the  history,  and  to  whom  constant  reference  is  made, 
appear  to  cover  all  the  literature  on  the  subject  in 
Spanish,  French,  and  Latin  extant  at  the  time  of  its 
composition.  The  list  includes  in  Spanish:  Herrera, 
Torquemada,  Las  Casas,  Castellano,  Gomara,  Padilla, 
Rivas,  Garcilaso,  Nieremberg,  Remesal,  etc.;  in  French: 
De  Thou,  Le  Challeux,  Laudonniere,  De  Laet,  etc. ;  in 


Preface  x\r 

Latin:  Algambe,  Ribadeneyra,  Camargo,  Schott,  Mon- 
tanus,  De  Bry,  Le  Moyne,  etc.,  and,  in  Italian,  Benzoni. 

In  a  word,  the  history  is  a  vast  and  ill-digested  com- 
pendium of  all  of  the  published  material  extant  at  the  date 
of  its  writing,  and  the  inference  of  Dr.  Brinton,  who  had 
never  seen  the  manuscript,  that  "it  was  not  probable" 
that  it  "would  add  any  notable  increment  to  our  know- 
ledge "  1  is  largely  justified. 

In  conclusion  the  author  wishes  to  express  his  obliga- 
tion to  Dr.  Jos£  Ignacio  Rodriguez,  Librarian  and  Chief 
Translator  of  the  International  Bureau  of  the  American 
Republics,  for  his  kindly  assistance  in  the  deciphering  of 
some  obscure  passages  in  the  Spanish  documents  which 
have  been  consulted. 

WOODBURY   LOWERY. 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
February,  1905. 

1  Notes  on  the  Floridian  Peninsula,  Philadelphia,  1859,  P-  3^. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE        v 

BOOK  I.     THE  FRENCH  COLONY 

CHAPTER 

I— THE  SPANISH  TREASURE  FLEETS  AND  FLORIDA     ...  3 

II — THE  FIRST  FRENCH  COLONY 28 

III— THE  SECOND  FRENCH  COLONY.  THE  TIMUQUANANS  .  .  49 

IV — THE  SECOND  FRENCH  COLONY — Continued  ....  75 

V — THE  THIRD  FRENCH  EXPEDITION 94 

VI — PHILIP'S  NOTICE  TO  FRANCE 101 

VII — PEDRO  MENENDEZ  DE  AVILES 120 

VIII — THE  DEPARTURE  OF  AVILES  FOR  FLORIDA  ....  142 

IX — THE  CAPTURE  OF  FORT  CAROLINE 155 

X — THE  FATE  OF  RIBAUT'S  FLEET 186 

BOOK  II.     THE  SPANISH  COLONY 

I — THE  AYS  EXPEDITION.    AVILES  AT  HAVANA         .        .        .211 

II — THE  CARLOS  EXPEDITION.     MUTINY  AT  THE  SETTLEMENTS  .  228 
III — EXPEDITIONS  TO  GUALE,  ST.  JOHN'S  RIVER,  AND  CHESAPEAKE 

BAY 244 

IV — FATHER  MARTINEZ  AND  HIS  COMPANIONS      ....  264 

V — EXPEDITIONS  OF  PARDO  AND  BOYANO.      RETURN  OF  AVILES 

TO  SPAIN  ..........  275 

VI — MUTINY  AT  ST.  AUGUSTINE.    PARDO'S  SECOND  EXPEDITION  .  293 

VII — PHILIP  NOTIFIES  FRANCE  OF  THE  MASSACRE          .        .        .  299 

VIII — THE  FRENCH  REVENGE 314 

xvii 


xviii  Contents 

BOOK  III.     THE  GUALE  AND  VIRGINIA  MISSIONS 
CONDITION  OF  THE  COLONY 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I — THE  GUALE  MISSION.     DESTITUTION  OF  THE  COLONY   .        .  339 

II — THE  VIRGINIA  MISSION 359 

III — THE  LAST  VISIT  OF  AVILES  TO  FLORIDA       ....  367 

APPENDICES 

APPENDIX 

A — REGISTERED  GOLD  AND  SILVER  IMPORTED  INTO  SPAIN  FROM 

THE  WEST  INDIES,  1560-1569 387 

B — THE  "RIVERE  DE  MAI" 389 

C — THE  PILLAR  SET  UP  BY  RIBAUT 393. 

D— THE  RIVERS  BETWEEN  THE  "  RIVERE  DE  MAI  "AND  PORT 

ROYAL 394 

E — PORT  ROYAL 399 

F — CHARLESFORT 403 

G — FORT  CAROLINE 405 

H — TIMUQUA 407 

I — LAUDONNIERE'S  STORY  OF  THE  NOVEMBER  MUTINY       .        .  409 
J— MAPS  OF  THE  FRENCH  COLONIES  IN  FLORIDA  AND  SOUTH 

CAROLINA 410 

K — LA  TERRE  DES  BRETONS 417 

L — PORTRAITS  OF  PEDRO  MENENDEZ  DE  AVILES  .        .        .        .418 

M — THE  DEPOSITION  OF  JEAN  MEMYN 420 

N — THE  CAPTURED  FRENCH  VESSELS 420 

O — THE  OATH  OF  AVILES     . 421 

P— THE  DEATH  OF  RIBAUT 425 

Q— THE  SITUATION  OF  AVILES  AT  THE  TIME  OF  THE  MASSACRE  .  429 

R— AYS 43i 

S— SANTA  LUCIA 434 

T — CALOOSA 43& 

U— SAN  FELIPE 43& 

V— TEGESTA                                                         ....  440 


Contents  xix 

APPENDIX  PAGE 

W — THE  DATE  OF  PARDO'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION      ....  443 

X — PARDO'S  FIRST  EXPEDITION 444 

Y — TOCOBAGA 448 

Z — PARDO'S  SECOND  EXPEDITION 450 

.AA — TACATACURU 452 

BB — THE  SPANISH  ACCOUNT  OF  GOURGUES'S  ATTACK  ON  SAN 

MATEO 454 

CC — THE  SECOND  VOYAGE  OF  AVILES  TO  FLORIDA         .        .        .457 

DD — AXACAN 458 

EE — THE  SITE  OF  THE  SEGURA  MISSION 461 

FF — MAPA  DE  LA  FLORIDA  Y  LACUNA  DE  MAIMI  DONDE  SE  HA  DE 

HACER   UN   FUERTE         ........      464 

INDEX 467 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

PEDRO  MENENDEZ  DE  AVILES,  IN  "  RETRATOS  DE  LOS  ESPANOLES 
ILUSTRES  CON  UN  EPITOME  DE  sus  VIDAS,"  MADRID,  1791 

Fron  tispiece 

"  FLORIDA  AMERICANS  PROVINCE  RECENS  &  EXACTISSIMA  DE- 
SCRIPTIO,"  BY  JACQUES  LE  MOYNE  DE  MORGUES,  PUBLISHED  BY 
DE  BRY  IN  1591 28 

MAP  OF  THE  FRENCH  FLORIDA  COLONY  OF  1562-65,  BY  NICOLAS 
BELLIN,  IN  "  HISTOIRE  ET  DESCRIPTION  GENERALE  DE  LA  Nou- 
VELLE  FRANCE,"  PAR  LE  P.  DE  CHARLEVOIX,  PARIS,  1744  .  34 

MAP  OF  FLORIDA,  1562-1574.     COMPILED  BY  WOODBURY  LOWERY.      210 

"  MAPA  DE  LA  FLORIDA  Y   LACUNA  DE  MAIMI,"  1595-1600  (?),  IN 

THE  ARCHIVES  OF  THE  INDIES,  SEVILLE 286 


xxi 


BOOK  I 
THE  FRENCH  COLONY 


BOOK  I 
THE  FRENCH  COLONY 

CHAPTER    I 

THE   SPANISH   TREASURE   FLEETS  AND  FLORIDA 

WITH  the  opening  ot  the  year  1562,  the  eastern  coast 
ot  the  continent  ot  North  America  from  Pdnuco 
to  the  St.  Lawrence  was  still  untenanted  by  the  white 
man.  To  the  north  the  region  discovered  by  Cartier  and 
Roberval  had  become  the  seat  of  short-lived  colonies, 
which  had  been  abandoned  in  despair,  and  France  ap- 
peared for  the  time  being  to  have  withdrawn  from  the 
unequal  contest  with  the  wilderness.  To  the  south  the 
persistent  efforts  of  Spain  to  take  possession  of  the  vast 
region  to  which  she  laid  claim  had  proved  equally  abor- 
tive, although  they  had  brought  her  some  acquaintance 
with  the  interior  of  the  country  and  with  the  nature  of 
its  savage  inhabitants.  She,  too,  had  become  discour- 
aged by  her  vain  attempts,  her  useless  sacrifice  of  life  and 
treasure,  the  stern  reception  given  her  by  the  warlike 
natives,  and  her  failure  to  discover  those  sources  of  the 
precious  metals  which  had- so  amply  rewarded  her  con- 
quests in  Mexico  and  South  America.  She  no  longer 

3 


4  The  Spanish  Settlements 

feared  the  intrusion  of  another  power  within  this  part  of 
her  domain,  where  she  herself  had  so  signally  failed,  and 
in  September  of  the  previous  year  Philip  had  proclaimed 
that  no  further  attempt  should  be  made  to  colonise  the 
eastern  coast.1 

It  was  true  that  she  professed  it  to  be  her  desire  to 
bring  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church  the  natives  of  her 
vast  transatlantic  dominions,  but  she  felt  herself  fully 
equal  to  the  gigantic  task,  and  would  brook  no  interfer- 
ence in  her  mission,  even  from  foreigners  of  her  own 
faith.  Moreover,  the  greater  portion  of  the  continent 
was  hers  by  right  of  discovery,  conquest,  and  papal 
patent,  and  its  boundless  treasures  furnished  the  sinews 
for  her  incessant  European  and  African  wars.  Although 
she  had  now  abandoned  a  small  part  of  her  Atlantic 
coast,  her  unparallelled  success  in  other  regions  had  soon 
awakened  jealousies  and  stimulated  competitors,  lured 
by  other  incentives  than  the  cure  of  souls,  and  she  was 
determined  to  defend  the  pathway  to  the  New  World 
against  the  intrusion  of  all  her  rivals.  Portugal,  France, 
and  England  watched  with  envious  eyes  the  extension  of 
her  possessions  and  the  uninterrupted  stream  of  gold  that 
flowed  into  her  coffers.  As  the  route  by  which  this 
wealth  reached  her  ports  of  Cadiz  and  Seville  had  a  direct 
bearing  on  her  policy  with  regard  to  Florida,  we  will  now 
proceed  to  consider  how  vast  this  wealth  was,  the  path 
by  which  it  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  the  risks  to  which  it 
was  exposed  on  its  way. 

Whether  1497  or  1501  be  fixed  upon  for  the  inception 
of  commercial  relations  between  Spain  and  the  Indies, 
the  establishment  of  the  Casa  de  Contrataci6n  in  Seville, 
by  c£dula  of  February  14,  1503,  through  which  all  busi- 
ness with  the  Indies  was  compelled  to  pass,  with  the 
appointment  of  its  governing  board  consisting  of  three 
officers,  agent,  treasurer,  and  accountant,  indicates  that 

1  Spanish  Settlements,  1513-1561,  p.  376. 


The  Treasure  Fleets  and  Florida         5 

even  at  that  early  period  a  trade  of  considerable  magni- 
tude was  already  in  existence.1 

The  bulk  of  the  exports  from  the  mother  country 
consisted  chiefly  of  grain  and  provisions,  arms,  ammuni- 
tion, and  clothing,  for  the  colonists  were  still  compara- 
tively few  in  number,  and  their  warlike  occupations  gave 
them  little  leisure  to  indulge  in  luxuries.  Horses  and 
cattle,  seed,  plants,  and  instruments  of  agriculture  occa- 
sionally formed  a  part  of  the  cargo  of  the  outgoing  ves- 
sels, and  slaves,  both  black  and  white,  as  we  have  seen  in 
a  previous  volume.  These  exports  were  encouraged  by 
an  absolute  freedom  from  duties  during  the  first  half  of 
the  sixteenth  century  and  by  the  opening  of  other  ports 
of  the  realm  to  the  West  India  traffic.2  The  vessels  re- 
turned from  the  Indies  loaded  with  brazil  and  other  native 
woods,  dye-stuffs,  medicinal  herbs,  cotton,  hides,  gold, 
and  silver,  and  articles  of  native  production. 

It  is  difficult  at  this  distance  of  time,  and  with  the 
limited  data  at  our  command,  to  determine  with  any  ap- 
proach to  exactitude  the  value  of  the  precious  metals 
exported  from  Spanish  America  to  the  mother  country 
during  the  first  half  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Moncada 
states  that  by  1595  two  thousand  millions  of  registered 
gold  and  silver  had  entered  Spain  from  the  Indies  since 
their  discovery,3  and  Navarette,  writing  in  1626,  asserts 

1  D.  Rafael  Antunez  y  Acevedo.     Memorias  Histdricas  sobre  la  Legisla- 
ci6n  y  Gobierno  del  Comercio  de  los  Espanoles  con  sus  Colonias  en  las  Indias 
Occidentals,  Madrid,  1797,  pp.  I,  3. 

2  Antunez,  ibid.,  pp.  21,  24.     The  cedula  of  January  15,  1529,  opened 
nine  ports  in  addition  to  that  of  Cadiz.     This  privilege  appears  to  have 
fallen  into  disuse,  owing,  among  other  reasons,  to  the  necessity  of  sailing  in 
convoy  and  the  imposition  of  export  duties.     It  was  revoked  in  1573.     Ibid. , 
pp.  n,  13,  20,  22.     The  cedula  is  given  in  full,  ibid..  Appendix,  p.  i.     See 
E.  G.  Bourne,  "  Spain  in  America,"   New  York,   1904,  in  The  American 
Nation:  A  History ',  vol.  in.,  pp.  282-284,  f°r  Spain's  colonial  commerce 
during  this  period. 

3  Sancho  de  Moncada.     Restauracidn  Politica  de  Espana,  Primer  a  Parte, 
Deseos  Publiccrs  al  Rey  Don  Filipe  Tercero  nueslro  senor.     Madrid,  1619. 
"  Discurso  Tercero,"  cap.  i.,  fol.  2ib. 


6  The  Spanish  Settlements 

that  during  the  century  comprised  between  the  years 
1519  and  1617  this  imported  wealth  amounted  to  1536 
millions.1  As  the  new  country  became  known  and  the 
mines  were  discovered  and  worked,  the  annual  importa- 
tions of  the  precious  metals,  though  comparatively  small 
at  first,  increased  rapidly.  It  is  reported  that  during 
four  years  of  the  period  which  we  are  now  considering 
(1564,  1566,  1567,  and  1568)  something  like  thirty  and  a 
half  million  dollars  found  their  way  into  Spain,  an  esti- 
mate which  does  not  include  quantities  of  jewels  and 
precious  stones.  This  was  an  enormous  sum,  when  we 
consider  that  its  purchasing  power  was  perhaps  fourfold 
what  it  is  to-day.  What  may  have  been  the  total  value 
of  the  unregistered  wealth  surreptitiously  introduced  into 
the  kingdom  from  the  same  sources  through  the  con- 
nivances of  interested  and  dishonest  officials,  it  is  natur- 
ally impossible  to  determine.  Unquestionably  it  must 
have  been  very  great  when  we  consider  the  facilities  that 
were  offered  for  defrauding  the  revenue.8 

Spain  quickly  recognised  that  her  increasing  pro- 
sperity could  not  be  displayed  with  impunity  before  the 
greedy  eyes  of  her  less  fortunate  neighbours.  Neither  was 
she  slow  in  taking  the  necessary  precautions.  "  En  boca 
cerrada  no  entran  moscas,"  says  the  Spanish  proverb, 
and  in  two  different  directions  did  Spain  strive  to  exclude 
these  buzzing  flies  from  her  succulent  morsels,  that  she 
might  close  to  them  every  channel  of  information  con- 
cerning her  West  Indian  possessions.  In  the  first  place, 
she  sought  to  prevent  the  publication  of  all  charts  and 
maps  which  could  indicate  the  way  thither.  This  did 
not  arise  from  any  absence  of  information  concerning  her 
distant  domains.  As  the  discoveries  progressed  the  mass 

1  Pedro  Fernandez    Navarette,    Conservacidn   de  Monarquias,    Madrid, 
1626,  p.  143.     And  see  Humboldt,  Ensayo  Politico,  tomo  iii.,  p.  316  ;  E. 
G.  Bourne,  "Spain  in  America,"  p.  301. 

2  See  Appendix  A.     Registered  Gold  and  Silver  imported  into  Spain  from 
the  West  Indies. 


The  Treasure  Fleets  and  Florida         7 

of  geographical  material  accumulated  by  Spanish  mariners 
and  explorers  became  accessible  to  the  map  makers,  for 
masters  of  vessels  and  pilots  were  required  to  keep  a 
record  of  their  journeys  for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  the 
navigation  of  the  Atlantic.1  A  register  was  kept  of  all 
the  islands,  bays,  shoals,  and  ports,  their  contours  and 
locations,  and  the  distance  of  the  voyages  to  the  Indies, 
which  was  deposited  in  the  Casa  de  Contrataci6n  in  Se- 
ville there  to  be  "well  guarded  and  concealed  "  *;  every 
precaution  was  taken  to  see  that  pilots  and  masters  of  ves- 
sels were  thoroughly  equipped  with  all  the  nautical  knowl- 
edge and  the  instruments  pertaining  to  their  art,  and 
discoverers  were  ordered  to  forward  a  full  and  complete 
relation  of  all  they  had  done  to  the  Council  of  the  Indies.3 
As  early  as  1511  it  was  forbidden  to  supply  foreigners 
with  charts  or  maps,4  and  in  1527  Charles  V.  enacted  that 
even  pictures  and  descriptions  of  the  Indies  should  not 
be  sold  or  given  to  them  without  special  licence.6  Such 
was  the  secretiveness  of  the  authorities  that  no  official 
map  of  the  western  discoveries  was  published  in  Spain 
until  the  year  1790,  and  it  has  been  thought  that  this 
reticence  on  the  part  of  the  Government  may  have  led 
to  the  suppression  of  Peter  Martyr's  First  Decade  and  of 
the  La  Cosa  Map,  which  was  in  some  of  the  copies.' 

1  Herrera,  Historia  de  las  Indias  Occidentals \   Madrid,  1730,  tomo  ii., 
dec.  4,  lib.  ii.,  cap.  vi.,  p.  32,  1527. 

2  Recopilacidn  de  Leyes  de  los  Reinos  de  las  Indias \  Madrid,  1841,  lib.  ix., 
tit.  xxiii.,  ley  12,  tomo  ii.,  p.  303. 

*  Ibid.,  lib.  iv.,  tit.  i.,  ley  14,  1542,  tomo  ii.,  p.  95.  For  early  regu- 
lations of  this  description  see  Final  Report  of  Investigations  among  the 
Indians  of  the  South-western  United  States,  Carried  on  Mainly  in  the  Years 
from  1880  to  1885,  By  A.  F.  Bandelier,  part  i.,  p.  45,  note  r.  See  also 
Henry  Harrisse,  The  Discovery  of  North  America,  pp.  11-17. 

4  Winsor,  Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist.  Am.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  113,  note  3. 

5  Recopilacidn,  lib.  ix.,  tit.  xxiii.,  ley  14,  tomo  iii.,  p.  303;   Kohl's  essay 
on  the  Ribero  Map  in  Maine  Hist.  Col.,  2cl  series,  vol.  i.,  p.  302. 

6J.  C.  Brevoort,  in  his  "Notes  on  the  Verrazano  Map"  {Journal  of 
the  Am.  Geographical  Soc.  of  New  York,  1873,  vol.  iv.,  p.  240,)  and  in 


:| 


8  The  Spanish  Settlements 

The  other  precaution  taken  was  the  total  exclusion  of 
foreigners  from  the  crews  of  vessels  sailing  to  the  West 
Indies.  Masters  of  vessels  were  required  to  be  natives  of 
Castile,  Aragon,  or  Navarre,  and  no  foreigners  were  per- 
mitted to  hold  the  office.1  No  foreign  sailors  were  al- 
lowed in  the  armadas  and  fleets  sailing  to  the  Indies,  and 
officers  were  commissioned  with  authority  to  visit  the 
outgoing  vessels  in  order  to  assure  themselves  of  the  due 
execution  of  the  law  and  to  prevent  their  embarkation.2 
Finally  the  exclusion  of  foreigners  from  the  Indies  in  any 
-  other  capacity  except  under  licence  was  rigorously  en- 
acted.8 But  the  sheen  of  the  gold  was  too  dazzling  to  be 
hidden  in  this  ostrich-like  fashion,  and  in  a  hundred  differ- 
ent ways  the  story  of  Spain's  newly  acquired  wealth  reached 
the  outer  world,  and  the  knowledge  of  it  spread.  The 
French  ambassador  at  Madrid,  M.  de  Fourquevaux,  kept 
his  Most  Christian  Majesty  fully  informed  of  the  expected 
treasure  fleets  from  Peru  and  Mexico  and  of  their  arrival.4 
The  banks  at  Lyons  were  also  advised  of  the  same.5 
Portuguese  agents  sought  to  bribe  Spanish  pilots  to  show 
them  the  way.6  French  pilots  went  to  Seville  and  se- 

Verrazano  the  Navigator,  New  York,   1874,  p.   102,  cited  also  in  Narr. 
and  Crit.  Hist.  Am.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  113,  notes  2  and  3. 

1  Recopilacidn,  lib.  ix.,  tit.  xxiii.,  ley  4,  1527,  tomo  iii.,  p.  303. 

2  Ibid.,  lib.  ix.,  tit.  xxv.,  ley  12,   1553,  tomo  iii,,  p.  317,  ibid.,  ley  14, 
1554- 

3 Recopilacidn,  lib.  iv.,  tit.  ii.,  ley  I,  1501  and  1526,  tomo  ii.,  p.  96; 
ibid.,  tit.  i.,  ley  3,  tomo  ii.  p.  93,  and  lib.  ix.,  tit.  xxvi.,  ley  i,  1560, 
tomo  iv.,  p.  i.  Instructions  given  to  Ovando,  September  17,  1501.  In- 
structions given  to  the  Casa  de  Contratacion  by  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  in 
1510.  Antunez,  Memorias,  pp.  41-42,  268  et  seq.  E.  G.  Bourne,  "Spain 
in  America,"  New  York,  1904,  in  The  American  Nation:  A  History,  vol. 
iii.,  p.  245,  instances  some  of  the  exceptions. 

4  Dfyeches  de  M.  de  Fourquevaux  Ambassadeur  du  Roi  Charles  IX.  en 
Espagne  1565-1572,  publiees  par  M.  1'Abbe  Douais,  Paris,  1896,  pp.  97, 
124,  126,  et  passim. 

6Alava  a  Philippe  II.,  Lyon,  22  Juillet,  1564,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.,  Paris,  K, 
1502  (10). 

6  Herrera,  tomo  i.,  dec.  I.,  lib.  vii.,  cap.  iii.,  p.  197. 


The  Treasure  Fleets  and  Florida          9 

cretly  made  the  voyage  to  the  Indies  as  sailors  on  Spanish 
vessels.1  Shipwrecked  mariners  and  unsuccessful  colonists 
rescued  by  passing  vessels  brought  their  knowledge  to  the 
country  of  their  rescuers,  while  paid  spies  and  informers 
were  employed  by  the  countries  interested  in  obtaining 
such  information. 

With  the  rapid  extension  and  increase  of  this  traffic  the 
high  seas  were  soon  filled  with  vessels  of  other  nationali- 
ties preying  upon  it.  To  these  France  and  England  con- 
tributed the  greatest  number.  During  the  first  half  of 
the  century  France  and  Spain,  it  is  true,  were  almost 
continually  at  war  with  each  other  except  for  brief  inter- 
vals of  peace  in  which  to  recover  breath.  England  was 
ostensibly  at  peace  with  Spain  for  the  entire  period.  But 
the  piratical  subjects  of  both  countries,  acting  appar- 
ently in  defiance  of  the  wishes  of  the  home  Government, 
were  in  reality  often  in  secret  connivance  with  interested 
officials  of  the  most  exalted  position.  The  French  cor- 
sair, Jean  Florin,  identified  by  some  authorities  with  the 
explorer  Verrazano,  captured  the  treasures  sent  home  by 
Cortes 3 ;  French  pirates  sank  Spanish  vessels  which  were 
coming  from  Peru,3  or  made  a  bold  descent  upon  Ha- 
vana4; the  announcement  was  made  of  the  fitting  out  of  a 

'Christobal  de  Haro  to  Charles  V.,  April  8,  1541,  MS.  Arch.  Gen.  de 
Indias,  Sevilla,  est.  143,  caj.  3,  leg.  n. 

2  Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist.  Am.,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  5,  21,  1523.  E.  G.  Bourne 
("  Spain  in  America,"  New  York,  1904,  in  The  American  Nation:  A  History, 
vol.  iii.,  p.  143,  note  3)  says  the  identity  of  Verrazano  with  Florin  has 
been  disproved  by  Peragallo,  Bull,  of  the  Soc.  Geog.  Ital.,  3d  series,  vol. 
ix.,  p.  189,  and  had  never  any  documentary  evidence  to  rest  on. 

"  Reponses  du  ministere  de  France  &  diverses  reclamations  presentees  au 
nom  de  1'Empereur  par  Jean  de  Saint  Mauris,  son  ambassadeur  (1545,  avril 
ou  mai)."  Sans  date.  Papier s  d'Etat  du  Cardinal  de  Granvelle  d'apres  les 
manuscrits  de  la  Bibliotheque  de  Besan$on,  public's  sous  la  direction  de  M. 
Ch.  Weiss.  Paris,  1841,  vol.  iii.,  p.  140. 

4  "Relacion  de  lo  subcedido  en  la  Habana,  cerca  de  la  entrada  de  los 
Franceses  en  ella."  In  Coleccidn  de  varios  Documentos  para  la  Historia  de 
la  Florida  y  Tierras  adyacentes,  By  Buckingham  Smith,  Londres  (1857?), 
tomo  i.,  p.  202. 


io  The  Spanish  Settlements 

fleet  in  England  for  the  purpose  of  sacking  the  island 
of  Madeira.1  The  cutting  out  of  a  treasure  ship  of 
the  fleet  returning  from  the  Indies2  became  of  such 
frequent  occurrence  that  as  early  as  1541  Spain  sought 
to  obtain  from  the  English  Government  a  statute  for- 
bidding the  sailing  of  any  armed  vessels  from  its  ports 
for  Brazil  or  the  Indies  without  security  being  given 
by  their  commanders  that  they  would  not  molest  Span- 
ish subjects.  3 

Particularly  exposed  to  depredations  of  this  nature 
were  the  many  vessels  which,  shipping  hides,  sugar,  and 
cassia  in  the  islands  of  Puerto  Rico  and  Hispaniola, 
threaded  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  carry  their  merchandise 
to  Tierra  Firma,  Honduras,  and  Spain.  These  vessels 
were  unwilling  to  sail  home  in  convoy  with  the  fleet 
which  gathered  at  Havana  for  that  purpose,  because  it 
would  involve  them  in  serious  delay ;  and  thus,  compelled 
to  return  unattended  with  the  money  which  they  had  ob- 
tained in  exchange  for  their  merchandise,  they  fell  an 
«asy  prey  to  the  pirates  infesting  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.4 

Necessity  soon  pointed  the  way  to  a  method  of  self- 
protection,  and  very  early  in  the  course  of  the  century  it 
became  customary  for  the  vessels  going  to  and  arriving 
from  the  Indies  to  sail  together  in  company  in  order  to 

1  "  Copia  de  carta  de  Su  Majestad  al  Conde  de  Feria,  fechaen  Bruselas  a 
24  de  Abril  de  1559  "  in  Coleccidn  de  Documentos  Ine'ditos  para  la  Historia  de 
Espafia,  por  el  Marques  de  la  Fuensanta  del  Valle,  D.  Jose  Sancho  Rayon 
y  D.  Francisco  de  Zabalburu,  tomo  Ixxxvii.,  pag.  176. 

2  "  Capitulo  de  carta  del  Obispo  Quadra  a  S.  M.  de  16  de  Agosto  de 
1561,"  in   Col.  Doc.  Ine'dit.  Hist.  Espana,  tomo  Ixxxvii.,  pag.  364. 

3  Eustace  Chapuys  to  the  Queen  Regent,  Jan.  2  (4),  1541,  London,  in 
Calandar  of  State  Papers,  Spanish^  vol.  vi.,  Pt.  I.,  p.  304. 

4  Pero  Menendez  (de  Aviles)  sobrel  Remedio,  pa.  q  haya  muchos  nabios 
(undated),  Brit.   Mus.  Add.  MSS.  28,  366,  fol.  299b.     The  letter  appears 
from  internal  evidence  to  have  been  written  at  some  date  between  July, 
1561,  and  the  spring  (?)  of  1562,  prior  to  any  Spanish  knowledge  of  the 
French  occupation  of  Florida,  Aviles  being  then  in  Spain,  having  returned 
from  his  second  voyage  to  the  Indies. 


The  Treasure  Fleets  and  Florida       1 1 

afford  one  another  mutual  protection.1  It  was  one  of 
the  duties  of  the  visitador  of  the  Casa  de  Contrataci6n 
not  only  to  see  that  the  vessels  were  properly  equipped 
with  a  crew  and  supplies  for  the  long  voyage,  but  also 
that  they  carried  arms  and  ammunition  with  which  to 
encounter  the  sea-robber.2  But  as  the  sailing  together 
of  the  vessels  was  not  compulsory,  individual  ships  or  a 
small  company  of  two  or  three  would  set  out  under  a 
special  permit  and  meet  their  fate  at  the  hands  of  the  pi- 
rates, to  whom  they  could  offer  no  effective  resistance. 
A  stop  was  at  last  put  to  this  by  royal  ce"dula  of  July 
1 6,  ijftu  It  was  enacted  that  in  January  and  August 
of  every  year  two  expeditions  should  sail  from  the  rio  de 
Sevilla,  the  one  called  the  Fleet  of  New  Spain,  with  desti- 
nation for  the  Antilles  and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  the 
other  called  the  Fleet  of  Tierra  Firme  for  Carthagena. 
The  two  fleets  were  to  proceed  together  under  the  com- 
mand  of  an  admiral,  and  on  arriving  off  Dominica,  the 
vessels  destined  for  New  Spain  were  to  divide  from  those 
destined  for  Tierra  Firme,  with  the  General  of  the  fleet 
in  command  of  the  one  and  the  Admiral  of  the  other.3 

Another  danger  to  which  the  merchant  fleet  was  ex- 
posed arose  from  the  selfishness  of  individual  captains 
who  endeavoured  to  save  themselves  at  the  expense  of 
their  companions.  On  an  attack  of  the  pirates  the  ves- 
sels would  disperse  like  a  flock  of  frightened  sheep,  those 
that  were  swift  and  light  abandoning  those  that  were  slow 
and  more  heavily  laden  to  the  mercy  of  the  enemy ;  and 
the  rumour  of  the  presence  of  a  pirate  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  a  port  would  inspire  them  with  such  terror  that 

1  Antunez,  Memorias,  pp.  83,  84,  thinks  it  dates  from  the  beginning  of 
the  commerce  of  the  West  Indies. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  59,  61,  69,  and  see  also  the  cedula  of  Feb.  13,  1552,  ibid.,  p. 
16. 

3 Ibid.,  p.  85;  Disquisiciones  Nduticas,  por  Cesareo  Fernandez  Duro, 
Madrid,  1877,  p.  169. 


12  The  Spanish  Settlements 

it  would  delay  the  sailing  for  days.  To  this  danger  the 
fleet  was  particularly  exposed  in  time  of  war,  and  in  1521 
an  armada  was  sent  to  protect  the  merchantmen  arriving 
from  the  Indies,  owing  to  the  presence  of  French  vessels 
off  the  coast  of  Andalusia  and  of  Algarve.1  The  follow- 
ing year  an  armada  was  sent  as  far  as  the  Canaries  to 
convoy  the  outgoing  India  fleet.  In  1532,  fearing  the 
revival  of  a  war  with  France,  an  armada  was  raised  to  pro- 
tect the  vessels  arriving  from  the  Indies.  In  1552  it  was 
provided  that  an  armada  of  four  galleons  and  two  cara- 
vels should  escort  the  fleet,  a  second  be  raised  in  Santo 
Domingo  for  the  protection  of  the  coasts,  and  a  third  be 
stationed  off  Cape  St.  Vincent  in  Spain  to  guard  against 
pirates.9  Finally,  under  the  ce"dulas  of  July  15,  1561, 
which  regulated  the  sailing  of  the  fleets,  and  another  of 
October  18,  1564,  arose  the  Armada  de  las  Carreras  de 
las  Indias?  whose  duty  it  was  to  escort  the  fleets  on  their 
way  to  the  Indies.  It  then  awaited  in  Havana  the  gather- 
ing of  the  various  vessels  and  treasure  ships  from  Tierra 
Firma  and  New  Spain,  and  accompanied  the  treasure  fleet 
and  the  merchantmen,  who  sought  its  protection  on  their 
return  passage  across  the  ocean.4 

The  fleets  sailed  twice  a  year  from  Havana  during  the 
summer  season,  passed  northward  through  the  Straits  of 
Florida,  or  the  Bahama  Channel  as  it  was  then  generally 
called,  until  they  reached  the  neighbourhood  of  Bermuda, 
when  they  set  their  course  for  the  Azores  and  from 
thence  to  Seville.5  The  passage  through  the  Channel, 

1  Herrera,  tomo  ii.,  dec.  3,  lib.  i.,  cap.  xiv.,  p.  23. 

2  Duro,  Disquisidones,  pp.  167,  168  ;  Antunez,  Mernorias,  pp.  20,  178. 

3  Antunez,  Memorias,  pp.  15,  16  ;    Recopiladdn,  lib.  ix.,  tit.  xxx.,  ley  55,. 
tomo  iii.,  p.  49. 

4  Pero  Menendez  (de  Aviles),  sobrel  Remedio,  pa.  q  haya  muchos  nabios, 
Brit.  Mus.  Add.  MSS.,  28,  366,  fol.  2ggb  ;  Duro,  Disquisidones,  p.  168. 

6  Pero  Menendez  (de  A  wile's)  sobrel  Remedio,  fol.  2ggb.  Derrotero  y  senas 
de  tierra  y  sondas  de  la  costa  de  la  nueua  espafia  y  de  tierra  firme  y  buelta 
de  las  yndias  a  espaiia  .  .  .  por  franco  manuel  .  .  .  empesose  a  15  de 


The  Treasure  Fleets  and  Florida        13 

discovered  by  Ponce  de  Leon  !  in  his  first  expedition,  was 
considered  a  dangerous  one  *  on  account  of  the  prevalence 
of  violent  storms  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  the 
roughness  of  its  waters,  and  the  ever-present  peril  of  the 
reefs  at  its  entrance,  the  Martyr  Islands  of  the  early  maps. 
In  its  narrowest  part  it  is  but  thirty-nine  miles  wide,  and 
from  the  earliest  times  that  its  blue  and  tepid  currents 
were  ploughed  by  the  keels  of  the  Spanish  galleons  the 
wreckage  along  the  Florida  coast  attested  its  terrors  to 
navigators.  So  fatal  was  the  Channel  to  merchantmen 
and  treasure  fleets,  that  in  the  course  of  the  following 
century  the  assistance  rendered  to  Spaniards  cast  away 
on  the  Florida  shore,  the  large  number  of  lives  rescued, 
and  the  watch  kept  upon  the  passing  vessels  by  the  coast 
Indians,  subject  to  the  Spanish  rule  at  St.  Augustine, 
were  perhaps  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  arguments  pre- 
sented by  the  Spanish  inhabitants  of  Florida  against  the 
abandonment  of  the  colony.  Even  prior  to  the  Spanish 
settlement  at  St.  Augustine,  and  shortly  after  Men£n- 
dez  de  Aviles  returned  from  his  second  voyage  to  the 
West  Indies,  he  had  begun  to  urge  upon  the  King  the 
necessity  of  locating  and  establishing  ports  of  refuge  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  the  Channel,  where  vessels  disabled 
in  its  passage  and  in  the  region  of  the  "still  vex'd  Ber- 
mothes"  could  put  in  for  repairs,  and  thus  avoid  the  long 
and  perilous  return  to  Puerto  Rico.3  It  is  not  difficult  to 
conceive  with  what  apprehension  the  Government  viewed 
the  possibility  of  the  establishment  of  a  piratical  band  in 

abril  ano  del  senor  1583  as.  Brit.  Mus.  Add.  MSS.,  28,  189,  and  see  earlier 
maps.  J.  C.  Brevoort  in  his  "  Notes  on  the  Verrazano  Map  "  (Journal  of 
the  Am.  Geographical  Soc.  of  New  York,  1873,  vol.  iv.,  p.  239,)  and  in  Ver- 
razano, the  Navigator,  New  York,  1874,  p.  101,  gives  a  good  note  on  the 
routes  to  and  from  the  West  Indies.  Gomara,  Histoire  Ge"ne"rale  des  Indes 
Occidentals.  Ed.  Fumee,  Paris,  1587,  liv.  vi.,  chap,  xxvi.,  p.  479  et  seq, 

1  Herrera,  tomo  i.,  dec.  I.,  lib.  ix.,  cap.  xii.,  p.  250. 

2  Antunez,  Memorias,  p.  91. 

3  Pero  Menendez  (de  Aviles)  sobrel  Remedio,  fol.  3OOb. 


H  The  Spanish  Settlements 

some  stronghold  along  the  shore,  within  easy  reach  of  the 
golden  flood  which  at  stated  intervals  flowed  through  the 
Channel,  or  the  passing  of  the  Floridian  Peninsula  and 
the  territory  to  the  north  of  it  into  the  grasp  of  another 
nation  with  as  keen  an  appetite  for  the  yellow  metal  as 
its  own,  even  though  it  might  be  a  Catholic  power  and 
friendly  for  the  time  being. 

Another  and  very  imminent  danger  attendant  upon  any 
settlement  by  a  foreign  power  in  the  vicinity  of  the  West 
Indies  and  of  the  route  of  the  treasure  ships  arose  from 
conditions  peculiar  to  the  population  which  at  that  time 
occupied  the  Spanish  colonies,  a  danger  which  pointed 
more  particularly  to  France.  As  early  as  1514  the  rapid 
increase  of  the  negro  slaves  in  Hispaniola  had  already 
become  a  source  of  fear  to  the  white  population,  and 
measures  had  been  taken  to  prevent  it ; 1  this  as  well  as 
the  slave  insurrection  in  Ay  lion's  colony/  probably  the 
first  of  its  kind  within  our  country,  indicate  but  too 
clearly  the  treatment  to  which  the  negro  population 
was  subjected  at  the  hands  of  its  masters.  By  1560  the 
natural  increase  of  that  prolific  race,  coupled  with  the 
constant  inflow  brought  by  the  slave-traders,  had  created 
a  most  alarming  preponderance  in  their  number  over  that 
of  the  whites.  Says  Mene"ndez  de  Avil£s  in  his  letter  to 
the  King,  previously  referred  to : 

"  In  the  Island  of  Puerto  Rico  there  are  above  15,000  negroes 
and  less  than  500  Spaniards,  and  in  all  of  the  Island  of  His- 
paniola there  may  be  2000  Spaniards  and  there  are  over  30,000 
negroes,  .  .  .  the  same  is  the  case  in  the  island  of  Cuba 
and  in  Veracruz,  Puerto  de  Cavallos,  which  is  in  Honduras, 
and  in  Nombre  de  Dios,  Carthagena,  Santa  Maria,  and  the 
coast  of  Venezuela,  where  there  are  twenty  negroes  to  one 
white  man,  and  with  the  lapse  of  time  they  will  increase  to  a 
great  many  more." 

1  Spanish  Settlements,  1513-1561,  p.  112.  *  Ibid.,  p.  167. 


The  Treasure  Fleets  and  Florida        15 

And  then  he  points  the  moral  and  lays  bare  the  danger. 

"  In  France  no  negro  is  a  slave,  neither  can  he  become  one 
by  law  of  the  realm.  Were  France  to  arm  three  or  four  thou- 
sand men  they  would  be  masters  of  all  these  islands,  and  ports^ 
of  Tierra  Firma;  for  the  city  of  Santo  Domingo,  which  is  the 
strongest,  is  easily  taken,  in  spite  of  the  fort,  bulwarks,  and 
artillery;  and  500  harquebus  men — for  the  honour  of  the  city  I 
do  not  say  fewer — could  take  it  with  ease,  and  by  freeing  the 
negroes,  most  of  whom  are  ladinos  *  and  natives  of  the  land,, 
and  by  liberating  them,  so  that  they  be  no  longer  slaves,  they 
would  kill  their  own  masters,  and  put  all  their  faith  in  the 
French,  because  the  French  had  made  them  free."  2 

Mene"ndez  was  wise  and  timely  in  his  warning  against 
French  aggression,  as  we  shall  soon  see. 

France,  England,  and  Portugal  had  all  turned  their 
eyes  on  the  New  World,  were  spying  out  its  possibilities^, 
and  seeking  to  reap  what  advantage  they  could  from  the- 
knowledge  so  obtained.  Of  the  three  powers  mentioned, 
England  was,  for  the  time  being,  the  least  to  be  dreaded. 
Although  the  Cabot  expedition  had  called  forth  a  protest 
from  Spain,  the  charters  for  discovery  and  colonisation1 
granted  to  him  and  others  were  "without  prejudice  to 
Spain  and  Portugal,"  and  respected  the  papal  bull  of  de- 
markation.  The  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  was- 
spent  in  building  up  the  English  navy  as  a  distinct  service^ 
and  the  country  was  largely  occupied  with  its  revolt  from 
Rome,  the  final  success  of  which  was  instrumental  in 
breaking  down  the  respect  for  the  papal  bull  which  had 
stood  in  the  way  of  England's  discovery  and  colonisation 

1  A  ladino  was  a  slave  who  had  served  over  one  year. 

9 Pero  Menendez  (de  Avitts)  sobrel  Remedio,  fol.  300.  "Memorial  de 
Pedro  Menendez  de  Aviles,"  undated  [1561-62?]  in  E.  Ruidiaz  y  Caravia, 
La  Florida,  Madrid,  1893,  tomo  ii.,  p.  322.  "  Vida  y  Hechos  de  Pero 
Menendez  de  Auiles,"  por  Bartolome  Barrientos,  in  Dos  Antiguas  Rela- 
ciones  de  la  Florida,  Genaro  Garcia,  Mexico,  1902,  p.  29. 


1 6  The  Spanish  Settlements 

in  more  favourable  climates  of  North  America  than  those 
visited  by  the  Cabots.  It  was  this  infant  navy  which 
became  the  cradle  of  the  Stukeleys,  Hawkinses,  and 
Drakes,  who  were  to  carry  her  flag  in  triumph  over 
seas.1  The  period  in  the  era  of  Spanish  enterprise  in  our 
country  which  we  have  now  reached  (1560-62)  was  but 
the  dawn  of  their  energy  before  which  the  older  Spanish 
naval  supremacy  was  destined  finally  to  succumb,  and 
Spain's  watchful  jealousy  of  English  aggression  in  Amer- 
ica can  be  best  considered  when  the  English  colony  in 
Virginia  began  to  arouse  her  active  resentment.  For  all 
that,  Spanish  vigilance  was  in  no  wise  relaxed,  and  her 
ambassadors  at  the  English  Court  kept  her  faithfully  in- 
formed of  all  rumours  and  designs  upon  her  West  Indian 
possessions.2 

Portuguese  pretensions  and  Spanish  distrust  began  with 
the  return  of  Columbus  from  his  first  voyage.3  Pope 
Eugenius  IV.  had  granted  Portugal  the  right  in  per- 
petuity to  all  heathen  lands  that  might  be  discovered  be- 
yond Cape  Bojador  on  the  African  coast,  including  India. 
This  grant  had  been  solemnly  confirmed  by  succeeding 
popes,  and  Spain,  by  the  treaty  of  1479,  na<^  pledged  her- 
self not  to  interfere.  But  the  return  of  Columbus  from 
his  first  expedition  aroused  in  the  suspicious  mind  of  King 
John  of  Portugal  the  fear  lest  he  might  have  been  tres- 
passing upon  these  rights,  although  Pope  Alexander  VI. 
had  issued  his  second  bull  of  May  4,  1493,  with  the  ex- 
press intention  of  avoiding  any  such  conflict  between  the 

1  Froude  mentions  as  an  important  element  of  the  success  of  the  English 
navy  the  boat  with  sails  trimmed  fore  and  aft,  which  could  work  to  windward, 
invented  by  Mr.  Fletcher  of  Rye.     English  Seamen  in  the  Sixteenth  Cent- 
ury, by  James  Anthony  Froude,  New  York,  1895,  p.  12. 

2  The  Discovery  of  America,  by  John  Fiske,  Boston  and  New  York,  1892, 
-vol.  ii.,  p.   17.      The  Genesis  of  the  United  States,  by  Alexander  Brown, 
Boston  and  New  York,  1890,  vol.  i.,  p.  2,  note. 

3  Herrera,  tomo  i.,  dec.  I,  lib.  ii.,  cap.  viii.,  p.  47  and  cap.  10,  p.  49 
(1593). 


The  Treasure  Fleets  and  Florida       17 

two  powers.1  King  John  threw  out  hints  of  an  imme- 
diate rupture  to  the  Spanish  embassy  sent  to  announce 
to  him  the  departure  of  Columbus  on  his  second  expe- 
dition, and  appears  to  have  contemplated  seriously  the 
sending  of  a  small  fleet  to  take  possession  of  some  point 
in  Cathay  or  Cipango,  and  then  to  dispute  the  Spanish 
claims.  But  a  vigilant  eye  was  kept  upon  his  move- 
ments, the  equipment  of  the  fleet  was  delayed  by  diplo- 
matic means,  and  in  the  following  year  by  the  treaty  of 
Tordesillas  the  line  of  demarkation  was  advanced  west- 
ward 370  leagues  beyond  the  Cape  de  Verd  Islands,  which 
secured  Brazil,  accidentally  discovered  in  1500,  to  the 
Portuguese  Crown.2 

The  progress  of  Spanish  discovery  and  the  wealth 
which  it  brought  to  light  did  not  tend  to  lessen  the  envy 
of  Emanuel  I.,  King  John's  successor,  and  so  persistent 
were  his  efforts  to  learn  the  path  followed  by  the  Spanish 
adventurers  that  in  1510  Charles  V.  sent  him  word  by 
Alonso  de  la  Puente  that  he  was  to  make  an  end  of 
stealing  Spanish  pilots.9  The  following  year,  Portugal 
seized  the  Moluccas,  and  in  15 14  an  expedition  to  Darien 
was  only  stopped  by  the  timely  protest  of  Spain.4  Dis- 
putes were  soon  rife  between  the  rival  powers  as  to  the 
longitude  of  the  Moluccas  in  respect  to  the  dividing  line 
at  the  antipodes,  which  Pope  Alexander  had  failed  to 
define.  On  account  of  the  intensifying  of  these  disputes 
Spain  postponed  the  proposed  Gomez  expedition  of  1523, 
and  in  the  following  year  (1524)  the  Congress  called  at 
Badajos  to  settle  the  question,  broke  up  after  two  months 

1  Fiske,  Disco-very  of  America,  vol.   i.,   pp.   325  and   authorities  there 
cited,  441,  445,  453  ;    Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  by  William  H.  Prescott, 
Philadelphia,  1869,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  174,  175. 

2  Herrera,  tomo  i.,  dec.  I,  lib.  ii.,  cap.  v.,  p.  43  et  seq.;  Fiske,  Discovery 
of  America,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  97,  98,  453,  459  ;  Prescott,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella^ 
vol.  ii.,  pp.  176,  177,  181. 

3  Herrera,  tomo  i.,  dec.  i,  lib.  vii.,  cap.  xiii.,  p.  196. 

4  Ibid.,  tomo  i.,  dec.  I,  lib.  x.,  cap.  x.,  p.  282. 


1 8  The  Spanish  Settlements 

of  wrangling,  each  party  still  holding  to  its  own  opinion.1 
Only  six  years  later  (June  20,  1530)  was  a  peaceful  con- 
clusion reached  by  Spain's  relinquishment  to  Portugal  of 
all  her  rights  thereto  under  the  bull  of  demarkation.3 
But  Portuguese  sailors  still  passed  westward  in  Spanish 
ships  and  studied  the  waterways  of  our  Atlantic  coast, 
probably  in  search  of  a  westward  passage  to  the  Moluccas. 
As  late  as  1562  Men<§ndez  complains  that  in  Villafafte's 
expedition  to  Florida,  as  well  as  in  that  of  the  Moluccas, 

"  there  were  many  Portuguese  fighting  men  and  very  good 
pilots,  and  two  [of  them]  who  had  been  captains  of  caravels  of 
the  King  of  Portugal's  armada,  who,  it  appears,  were  sent 
there  by  their  king  or  by  his  council  to  understand  and  learn 
those  navigations  and  lands  and  their  secrets  and  of  what  mat- 
ters the  captains  of  your  majesty  treat  with  the  peoples  of 
those  lands," 

and  he  urges  upon  the  King  the  exclusion  of  all  for- 
eigners.3 For  many  years  after,  the  ships  and  adventurers 
of  France  and  England  drew  an  unfailing  supply  of  skil- 
ful pilots  from  the  little  kingdom,  sometimes  enlisting 
them  by  cunning,  sometimes  by  force,  and  not  infre- 
quently finding  in  them  ready  and  willing  servants  to 
conduct  their  most  hazardous  enterprises. 

In  January,  1548,  while  present  at  the  Diet  of  Augs- 
burg, Charles  V.,  believing  his  end  near  at  hand,  had, 
among  other  instructions  advised  his  son,  Philip  II., 

"  In  respect  to  the  Indies,  have  a  care  to  be  ever  on  the 
watch  if  the  French  wish  to  send  an  armada  thither,  secretly 

1  Herrera,  tomo  ii.,  dec.  3.,  lib.  iv.,  cap.  iii-viii.,  pp.  178-188. 

*  Ibid.,  tomo  ii.,  dec.  4,  lib.  v.,  cap.  x.,  p.  93  et  seq.;  Prescott,  Ferdin- 
and and  Isabella,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  180,  182  and  authorities  in  note  29;  Christo- 
pher Columbus,  by  Justin  Winsor,  Boston  and  New  York,  1891,  pp.  589- 

591- 

8  Pero  Menendez  (de  AvilSs)  sobrel  Remedio,  fol.  303. 


The  Treasure  Fleets  and  Florida       19 

or  otherwise,  and  to  notify  the  governors  of  those  parts  to  be 
on  their  guard  and  where  and  when  necessary  in  conformity 
therewith,  to  resist  the  said  French ;  for  though  they  have  often 
undertaken  to  go  there,  it  has  been  observed  that  their  armadas 
have  not  endured  and  more  than  that,  when  resistance  is  offered 
them,  then  they  weaken  and  go  to  pieces;  and  thus  it  is  of 
much  advantage  to  be  ready  to  hand  against  them."  ' 

The  Emperor's  advice  was  based  upon  no  vague  preju- 
dice concerning  a  neighbour  with  whom  he  was  constantly 
at  war;  whose  intrigues  were  for  ever  fomenting  fresh 
trouble  for  Spain,  and  whose  King  had  said  of  the  In- 
dies that  "God  had  not  created  those  lands  solely  for 
Castilians."  3 

Breton  fishermen  had  been  familiar  with  the  Newfound- 
land fisheries  for  many  years  before  Verrazano's  much- 
disputed  expedition  to  America  in  1524  first  gained  for 
him  the  notice  and  favor  of  Francis  I.,  by  whom,  indeed, 
it  is  said  to  have  been  authorised.8  We  have  no  know- 
ledge of  any  interference  of  Spain  with  the  first  and  sec- 
ond voyages  of  Jacques  Cartier  in  1534  and  1535;  but 
in  1537,  while  the  war  was  still  in  progress  in  which 
Francis  I.  had  revived  his  pretensions  to  Italy,  and  only 
a  few  months  after  Carrier's  return,  in  July,  1536,  from  his 
second  expedition,  Charles  V.  was  considering  whether 
some  article  ought  not  to  be  introduced  in  his  instructions 
to  Los  Cobos  and  Granvelle  for  treating  with  the  Grand 
Master  of  France  to  prevent  King  Francis  from  any 

1  "  Instrucciones  de  Carlos  Quinto  a  Don  Felipe  su  hijo,"  Augusta  a  18 
de  enero,  1548,  in  Ch.  Weiss,  Papiers  d"Etat  du  Cardinal  de  Granvelle, 
vol.  iii.,  p.  295. 

*  Herrera,  tomoii.,  dec.  3,  lib.  vi.,  cap.  ix.,  p.  189. 

3  Shea's  Charlevoix,  vol.  i.,  p.  107  ;  cited  in  Narr.  and  Crit.  Hist.  Am., 
vol.  iv. ,  p.  5  and  note  I  ;  Henry  C.  Murphy,  The  Voyage  of  Verrazano,  New 
York,  1875,  P-  163,  and  B.  F.  Da  Costa,  Verrazano  the  Explorer,  New 
York,  1880,  p.  25. 


20  The  Spanish  Settlements 

undertaking  in  the  Indies.1  In  the  following  year  the 
King  and  Queen  of  Portugal  were  informed  of  the  Em- 
peror's intention  in  this  respect  and  of  King  Francis's 
answer  thereto8.  Three  years  later  (1540)  Spain  was 
urging  the  "slow-moving  Portuguese"  to  take  action 
against  France  in  view  of  certain  licenses  granted  by 
Francis  to  his  subjects  to  sail  for  the  East  and  West 
Indies;3  and  in  November  of  the  same  year  Los  Cobos 
wrote  Louis  Sarmiento  de  Mendoza,  Spain's  ambassador 
to  Portugal,  that  while  there  was  no  fear  of  a  French  ex- 
pedition against  the  Indies  during  the  winter,  "it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  when  the  Spring  sets  in,  and  the 
weather  is  fine  and  the  winds  are  favourable  they  may  all 
of  a  sudden  be  tempted  to  carry  out  their  bad  intentions." ' 
The  Emperor  did  not  wait  for  the  French  to  act  in 
order  to  ascertain  their  designs.  Following  the  advice 
he  had  given  his  son,  to  forestall  any  attempt  on  their 
part  to  invade  the  Indies,  he  dispatched  a  secret  agent, 
Don  Pedro  de  Santiago,  during  the  winter  to  see  what 
the  French  were  doing,  and  on  Santiago's  return  he  was 
sent  a  second  time  to  visit  the  entire  French  coast  from 
Bordeaux  to  Brittany  and  Normandy  to  learn  what  ships 
were  arming  in  the  different  ports,  their  number  and 
equipment,  and  if  they  were  designed  to  rob  or  injure  the 
shipping  that  came  from  the  Indies.  No  port,  however 
insignificant,  appears  to  have  been  overlooked,  and  the 
agent,  having  ascertained  that  a  fleet  of  thirteen  sail, 

1  The  Articles  discussed  with  His  Majesty  at  Morion  with  regard  to  the 
instructions  to  be  given  to  Cobos  and  Granvelle  for  treating  with  the  Grand 
Master  of  France,  1537  ;   Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Spanish,  vol.  v.,  Pt.  II., 
p.  407. 

2  Luis  Sarmiento  (de  Mendoza)  to  the  Emperor,  July  30,  1538  ;  Calendar 
of  State  Papers,  Spanish,  vol.  vi.,  Pt.  I.,  p.  5. 

3  Cardinal  Tavera  to  the  Emperor,  Madrid,  Oct.  n,  1540;  Calendar  of 
State  Papers,  Spanish,  vol.  vi.,  Pt.  I.,  p.  279. 

4  High  Commander  Cobos  to  Luis  Sarmiento  (de  Mendoza),  Madrid,  Nov. 
16,  1540,  Calendar  of  State  Papers,  Spanish,  vol.  vi.,  Pt.  I.,  p.  291. 


The  Treasure  Fleets  and  Florida       21 

with  ammunition  and  artillery  for  a  two-years'  cruise, 
was  being  fitted  out  at  St.  Malo  in  command  of  Jacques 
Cartier,  sought  an  interview  with  him  and  learned  that 
his  intention  was  to  people  a  country  called  Canada.1 

The  conclusions  of  the  Councils  of  State  and  of  the 
Indies,  based  upon  Santiago's  report,  are  particularly  in- 
teresting in  view  of  what  actually  occurred  twenty  years 
later;  they  find  that  the  intention  of  the  French  is  "to 
place  themselves  near  the  Bahama  Channel,  which  is  the 
best  position  they  could  take,  when  the  war  with  France 
shall  brake  out,  to  harm  the  ships  of  the  Indies,  for  most  of 
them  come  through  the  said  Channel  of  Bahama,  and  not 
a  single  one  could  pass  without  their  seizing  it."  a  They 
also  advise  that  in  place  of  the  single  caravel  which  the 
Emperor  had  ordered  to  follow  Cartier's  fleet  three 
should  be  sent,  and  recommend  that,  on  learning  where 
the  French  intend  to  colonise,  a  person  of  capacity  be 
appointed  Captain  General,  who  should  publicly  appear 
as  its  discoverer  and  apply  for  the  right  to  conquer  and 
colonise  it,  which  should  be  done,  however,  at  the  cost  of 
the  royal  treasury.  Although  the  Cardinal  of  Seville  did 
not  accept  the  conclusion  of  the  Councils  as  to  the  object 
the  French  had  in  view,3  the  two  caravels  were  dispatched, 

1  Cart  a  de  Cristoval  de  Haro  al  emperador  Carlos  5d,  fecha  en  Burgos  a 
25  de  henero  de  1541,  MS.     De  samano  [Juan  de  Samano,   secretary  of 
Charles  V.],  traslado  de  una  ca  q  se  escriuio  a  xpobal  de  haro,  de  Madrid, 
MS.  (undated).   Copia  de  la  carta  q  escriuio  xpoual  de  haro  a  su  mag.  en  ocho 
de  abril,  1541,  MS.    All  of  these  three  letters  in  Arch.  Gen.  de  Indias,  Sevilla 
est.,    143,  caj.  3,  leg.  n.     An  extract  of  this  last  letter  is  printed  with 
out  date  or  reference  in  Una  Expedicidn  Espanola  d  la  Tierra  de  los  Bacal- 
laos  en   1541,   Jose   Toribio    Medina,    Santiago   de  Chile,    1896,   p.   xxv. 
"Relation  de  lo  que  dice  la  espia  que  el  Consejo  de  las  Indias  embio  a 
Francia  para  saver  lo  de  las  Armadas  que  se  preparaban  alii,"  Buckingham 
Smith,  Col.  Doc.  Flo.,  tomo  i.,  p.  107. 

2  "  Loque  se  acuerda  en  el  Consejo  de  Estado  y  de  Indias  sobre  lo  que  se 
presenta  tocante  al  intento  de  la  Armada  de  Francia,  en  respuesta  a  Su 
Majestad,"  Buck.  Smith,  Col.  Doc.  Flo.,  tomo  i.,  p.  109. 

3 In  his  letter  of  June  10,  1541  ;  Buck.  Smith,  Col.  Doc.  Flo.,tomoi.,  p.  in. 


22  The  Spanish  Settlements 

the  one  sailing  from  San  Lucar,  and  the  other  from 
Bayonne  in  August  of  the  same  year,  and  but  a  few  days 
apart.1 

In  1545  came  official  complaints  concerning  certain 
ships  from  Peru  reported  to  have  been  sunk  by  two 
French  vessels  * ;  neither  did  the  proposed  Roberval  ex- 
pedition of  1547  escape  the  sharp  eyes  of  the  Spanish 
authorities.3  In  1549  Simon  Renard,  Charles  V.'s  am- 
bassador at  the  French  Court,  was  advised  to  inform 
himself  "if  vessels  are  being  armed  to  go  to  the  Indies, 
or  to  await  on  their  passage  near  Seville  ships  of  sub- 
jects of  the  said  Emperor  arriving  from  the  Indies."4 
In  1555  the  French  pirate,  Pedro  Beaguez,  visited  Santa 
Martha,  and  Jacques  de  Soria  made  a  descent  upon  the 
island  of  Margarita,  where  the  pearl  fisheries  were,  seized 
the  town  through  the  treachery  of  one  of  its  inhabitants, 
by  the  freeing  of  the  negro  slaves,  and  caused  it  to  pay  a 
heavy  ransom.  He  next  visited  Santa  Martha,  where  he 
betrayed  what  Pulgar  calls  his  "Lutheran  perfidy"  by 
pillaging  the  church,  and  then  burned  Carthagena,  and 
burned  and  sacked  Santiago  de  Cuba  and  Havana.6 

At  last  Charles  V.  and  his  son  Philip,  "King  of  Eng- 

1  Medina,  Expedition  d  los  Bacallaos,  pp.  xxvii.-xxxv. 

8  "  Reponses  du  ministere  de  France  a  diverses  reclamations  presentees 
au  nom  de  1'Empereur  par  Jean  de  Saint  Mauris,  son  ambassadeur"  (1545, 
avril  ou  mai).  Sans  date.  In  Papier s  d'Etat  du  Cardinal  de  Granvelle,  vol. 
iii.,  p.  140. 

3  "  Copie  de  ce  qui  a  este  escript  de  Paris  4  1'abbe  de  Sainct  Vincent 
touchant  (le)  Canada,"  1547  ;  Brit.  Mus.,  Add.  MSS.  28,596,  fol.  154. 

4  "  Instructions  a  Simon  Renard,  ambassadeur  a  la  cour  de  France."  Sans 
date  (Bruxelles,  Janvier,  1549),  Papier  s  d'Etat  du  Cardinal  de  Granvelle, 
vol.  iii.,  p.  343. 

6  "Memorial  de  Pedro  Menendez  de  Aviles,"  undated,  [1561-62?] 
Ruidiaz,  La  Florida,  tomo  ii.,  p.  322  ;  Historia  General  de  las  Indias  Occi- 
dentales,  Decada  Nona,  continua  la  de  Antonio  de  Herrera  desde  el  afio  de 
1555  asta  el  de  1565,  Doctor  D.  Pedro  Fernandez  de  Pulgar,  tomo  i.,  fol. 
69,  Bib.  Nac.,  Madrid,  MSS.  2796.  And  see  the  versified  account  of  Juan 
de  Castellanos  in  Primera  Parte  de  las  elegias  de  varones  illustres  de  Indias, 
Madrid,  1589,  p.  314. 


The  Treasure  Fleets  and  Florida       23 

land,"  succeeded  in  imposing  the  long-contemplated  re- 
strictions upon  French  activity  in  the  Indies.  In  the 
truce  of  February  5,  1556,  signed  at  Vaucelles  and  which 
was  to  last  for  five  years,  Henry  II.  agreed  that  "the 
subjects  of  the  said  Sir  King  of  France  or  others  at  their 
behest  shall  not  traffic,  navigate,  or  trade  in  the  Indies 
belonging  to  the  said  Sir  King  of  England,  without  his 
express  leave  and  license ;  otherwise,  doing  the  contrary, 
it  shall  be  allowable  to  proceed  against  them  as  enemies ; 
the  said  truce  remaining  none  the  less  in  force  and 
vigour. ' '  The  ink  of  the  treaty  of  Vaucelles  was  scarcely 
dry  when,  four  months  later  (June,  1556),  the  Neapolitan 
Pope,  Paul  IV.,  who  had  invoked  the  aid  of  the  Turk  in 
his  struggle  with  Philip  over  the  temporalities  of  the 
Church  in  Sicily  and  Naples,  induced  Henry  to  break  it, 
and  the  three-years'  war  with  France  began  which  termi- 
nated with  the  treaty  of  Cateau-Cambresis  in  1559. 

To  the  last  moment  of  the  truce  Spanish  vigilance  con- 
tinued on  the  alert.  Villegaignon  had  sailed  for  Brazil 
the  previous  year  under  the  auspices  of  Admiral  Coligny 
to  found  a  Protestant  colony  there,  while  Dona  Juana, 
widow  of  Don  John  of  Portugal,  was  Regent  of  Spain 
during  Philip's  absence  in  England  and  the  Netherlands. 
Renard,  who  had  a  secret  agent  in  Normandy  giving  him 
information  of  ships  under  construction  and  their  de- 
stination,8 wrote  to  the  Regent  in  July,  1556,  that  Ville- 
gaignon, 

* '  having  seized  a  port  in  the  passage  of  the  Indies,  is  fortifying 
it  and  has  advised  the  King  of  France,  that  if  he  will  send  him 
four  or  five  thousand  soldiers  he  will  conquer  a  part  of  the 

1  Corps  Universel  diplomatique  du  Droit  des  Gens,  J.  Dumont,  Amster- 
dam, La  Haye,  1726,  vol.  iv.,  Partie  III.,  p.  84.     "Additions  de  quelques 
Articles  au  Traite  de  Vaucelles,  etc." 

2  L'Ambassadeur  Renard  a  Philippe  II.,  Paris,  7  juillet,  1556;  Papiers 
d' Etat  du  Cardinal  de  Granvelle,  vol.  iv.,  p.  622. 


24  The  Spanish  Settlements 

Indies  for  him  and  prevent  the  navigation  of  that  part.  .  .  . 
And  as  the  French  are  arming  vessels  in  Normandy  and  Brit- 
tany," continues  Renard,  "  although  they  may  be  for  another 
object,  it  appeared  to  me  that  I  should  not  fail  to  give  this 
advice,  in  order  that  your  Highness  may  warn  and  advise 
those  whom  it  concerns ;  for  they  could  easily  molest  travellers 
and  navigators  to  the  said  Indies."  ' 

In  1559  the  treaty  of  Gateau -Cam  br^sis  was  signed  be- 
tween Philip  and  Henry  II.,  by  which  France  disgorged 
an  accumulated  plunder  of  years,  said  to  have  equalled 
in  value  one-third  of  the  kingdom.9  No  reference  was 
made  to  the  Indies  in  the  treaty  itself.  There  appears, 
however,  to  have  been  an  understanding  that,  while  the 
French  pirates  and  privateers  were  to  be  duly  punished, 
and  while  France  agreed  that  she  would  not  interfere 
with  Philip's  West  Indian  possessions,  she  still  insisted 
that  the  freedom  of  the  sea  was  hers,  as  well  as  of  those 
regions  which  did  not  belong  to  Spain,  and  that  she  would 
not  "consent  to  be  deprived  of  the  sea  and  the  heavens." 

Be  that  as  it  may,  the  Duke  of  Alba  in  a  subsequent 
conversation  with  Fourquevaux,  the  French  ambassador 
to  Spain,  implied  that  the  omission  in  the  treaty  arose 
entirely  from  the  absence  of  any  adverse  occupation  of 
the  Indies  by  the  French  at  the  time  of  its  signing.*  In 
June  of  the  same  year  Philip  was  married  by  proxy  to 
the  French  Princess  Isabella  of  Savoy,  and  in  January, 
1560,  shortly  after  his  return  to  Spain,  he  met  her  for  the 
first  time  at  Guadalajara.  The  close  bonds  now  estab- 

1  L'Ambassadeur  Renard  (a  la  princesse  de  Portugal  ?).  Sans  date. 
(Commencement  d'aout,  1556);  ibid.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  658. 

9  The  Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  John  Lothrop  Motley,  New  York, 
1859,  vol.  i.,  chap,  iii.,  p.  202. 

3  Unsigned  and  undated  note,   1564-1566,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K, 

1503. 

4  Lettre  au  Roi,  24  de'cembre,  1565,  De'peches  de  M.  de  Fourquevaux,  p. 

17. 


The  Treasure  Fleets  and  Florida       25 

lished  between  himself  and  France,  which  had  been  one 
of  the  main  objects  of  the  last  treaty,  were  insufficient 
to  quiet  Philip's  ever-suspicious  spirit.  Hardly  had  the 
marriage  by  proxy  been  performed,  when  the  Duke  of 
Alba,  who  had  represented  Philip  at  the  ceremony,  was 
writing  to  the  King  from  Paris  regarding  the  prohibition 
which  the  French  King  was  to  proclaim  in  respect  to  the 
navigation  of  the  Indies.1 

In  August  of  the  same  year  Chantone  arrived  in  Paris 
as  Philip's  ambassador,  and  began  his  complaints  against 
the  French  piracies.  During  November  and  December 
Rouen  citizens  were  arming  vessels  at  Havre  de  Grace 
to  plunder  the  Indies,3  and  December  24th  Philip  wrote 
directing  him  to  oppose  the  granting  by  the  French  King 
of  licences  to  go  to  the  Indies,  "because  if  they  sought 
to  conquer  territory,  it  could  only  be  on  the  same  coasts 
which  we  already  hold,  or  in  our  provinces,  which  we 
have  discovered  in  those  parts,  and  because  they  would 
not  be  able  to  maintain  them." 

Early  in  January  of  the  following  year  Chantone  pro- 
tested in  open  council  against  the  equipment  of  the  ves- 
sels already  referred  to.  Admiral  Coligny  replied  that 
none  of  them  would  be  permitted  to  sail  from  Brittany 
or  Normandy,  where  he  commanded,  either  for  the  In- 
dies or  to  their  harm  or  that  of  any  of  the  Spanish  King's 
subjects.4  A  few  months  later,  again  importuning  the 
Cardinal  of  Lorraine  in  respect  to  suspicious  vessels  arm- 
ing in  the  same  ports,  he  received  the  curt  reply  that  the 
French  "were  under  no  obligation  to  hold  their  vessels 
at  the  will  of  their  neighbours,  nor  to  be  prevented  from 


1  Letter  of  July  22,  1559,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K,  1492  (60). 
*  Letter  of  Nov.  15,  1559,  Blois,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K,  1492  (77) ; 
and  Dec.  2,  1559,  ibid.  (82),  fol.  5. 

3  Letter,  Dec.  24,  1559,  Paris,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K,  1493  (12). 

4  Letter,  Jan.  17,  1560,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K,  1493  (30). 


26  The  Spanish  Settlements 

sending  them  where  it  best  suited  their  convenience,  and 
if  the  Spaniards  suspected  their  actions  without  reason, 
the  French  saw  no  way  of  undeceiving  them." 

Everything  aroused  Chantone's  suspicions,  from  the 
rattling  of  an  anchor  chain  to  the  laying  of  a  keel ;  and 
his  eyes  were  never  off  the  ports  of  Normandy  and  Brit- 
tany, hotbeds  of  "Lutherans  "  and  breeding-grounds  of 
pirates.  Early  in  the  year  1561  reports  of  the  arming 
of  a  fleet  of  ten  galleys,  manned  by  seventy  "Lutheran" 
sailors,  carrying  fifty  pieces  of  artillery,  and  provided 
with  a  launch  for  shallow  water,  for  the  purpose  of  pillag- 
ing the  shores  of  the  Indies  and  robbing  the  returning 
Spanish  vessels,  called  for  special  remonstrance  on  the 
part  of  Philip.9 

This  was  followed  by  a  convention  of  ship  captains  held 
in  England  to  which  the  captains  of  Normandy  and  Brit- 
tany were  summoned,  and  whose  action  awaited  the  return 
of  Coligny  from  Chatillon,  where  he  had  gone  to  spend 
Easter.  "This  junta  of  vessels  has  awakened  my  sus- 
picions," writes  Chantone,  "and  I  was  anxious  for  some 
days,  because  the  Admiral  is  a  friend  of  novelties,  and  of 
seeking  his  own  advantage.  .  .  .  It  is  also  reported 
that  the  said  ships  are  bound  for  the  Indies."  In  May 
he  forwarded  to  the  King  a  report  of  the  ships  in  the 
various  French  ports.4  Coligny  again  readily  promised 
that  he  would  do  all  that  was  in  his  power,  and  what  was 
just,  to  stop  the  piracies.6  Meanwhile  the  plundering,  by 
corsairs,  from  Normandy  and  Brittany  of  Spanish  vessels 
returning  from  the  Indies  and  the  slaughter  of  their 

1  Chantone  to  Philip,  Nov.  20  and  22,  1560,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K, 
1493  (107),  fol.  2b. 

9  Letter,  1561,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K,  1^95  (i)  and  Philip  to  Chantone, 
March  23,  1561,  Toledo,  MS.  ibid,,  K.,  1495  (26). 

3  Letter,  April  7,  1561,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K,  1494  (73). 

4  Letter,  May  I,  1561,  MS.  ibid.,  K,  1494  (84),  forwarding  the  Report 
dated  April  20,  1561,  MS.  ibid.,  K,  1494  (80). 

'Letter,  Nov.  9,  1561,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K,  1494  (107). 


The  Treasure  Fleets  and  Florida       27 

crews  continued,1  until  Chantone,  in  justifiable  indigna- 
tion, writes  his  King  under  date  of  January  13,  1562, 
"with  the  robberies  committed  in  the  route  of  the  Indies 
during  the  past  days,  all  those  of  Normandy  and  Brittany 
are  so  possessed  of  greed,  that  there  is  not  a  man  of  those 
that  follow  the  fleets  who  does  not  seek  to  own  a  ship  or 
to  have  one  built,  although  they  would  have  to  sell  their 
inheritance  to  attain  it,"  and  he  adds,  "that  all  those  who 
were  engaged  in  this  matter  were  heretics,  and  of  those 
regarded  with  the  most  favour."  2 

1  Letter,  Aug.  n,  1561,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K,  1495  (62)  ;  letter,  1560 
or  1561  (?),  MS.  ibid.,  K,  1494  (17). 

8  Letter,  Jan.  13,  1562,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K,  1497  (5). 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   FIRST   FRENCH  COLONY 

IN  the  same  letter  of  January  13,  1562,  Chantone,  after 
expressing  his  desperation  in  the  terms  just  cited,  in- 
forms Philip  that  "the  three  ships  which  I  wrote  Y.  M. 
were  preparing  to  sail  for  Florida  have  come  to  be  six, 
and  a  number  of  people  will  go  in  them,  and  they  will 
leave  after  the  close  of  this  month  with  the  first  fair 
weather.  .  .  .  The  said  six  vessels  go  under  the  com- 
mand of  Jean  Ribaut.  ...  I  will  not  fail  to  have  a 
word  about  it  with  the  Queen,  although  they  deny  that 
they  are  bound  for  those  parts,  but  the  thing  is  very  cer- 
tain, and  it  would  be  well,  if  it  please  Y.  M.,  to  mention 
it  to  Limoges."  *  Ten  days  later  he  saw  Catherine  de' 
Medici  and  handed  her  a  memorandum  on  the  subject, 
which  she  retained  in  order  to  show  it  to  Coligny  and  to 
answer  it  by  letter,  while  she  assured  him  at  the  same 
time  that  nothing  would  be  done  to  the  detriment  of 
Philip's  interests.9 

A  week  later  Chantone,  whose  suspicions  were  thor- 
oughly aroused,  wrote  Philip  that  an  effort  was  being 
made  to  obtain  the  pardon  of  a  certain  Portuguese  pirate, 
who  had  been  implicated  in  robberies  of  the  India  fleet, 

1  Letter,  Jan.  13,  1562,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K,  1497  (5).     "  Limoges  " 
was  Sebastien  de  1'Aubespine,  Bishop  of  Limoges,  French  Ambassador  to 
Spain  at  the  time. 

2  Chantone  to  Philip  1 1.,  Jan.  23,  1562,  MS.  Arch.  Nat.  Paris,  K,  1497(6). 

28 


